Matcha Roll Cake with Strawberry Cream

Ingredients for roll cake

• 4 large eggs (with egg whites and yolks separated)
  • Make sure you keep the egg whites in the fridge to keep them cold, but the egg yolks should be at room temperature.
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 2/3 cup (84g) all purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons (10g) cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons matcha powder
  • You can substitute matcha powder for any other flavoring you’d like, such as cocoa powder, powdered strawberries, pumpkin pie spice. If you’re using a liquid extract, use 1 1/2 teaspoon of extract, but make sure to add it when we add the vanilla extract.
• 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk
  • I actually used 1 tablespoon heavy cream and 1 tablespoon water, but you should be able to substitute with any kind of milk here, like whole milk, oat milk, coconut milk, etc.
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • You can omit this, but it does bring a nice fragrance.

Ingredients for strawberry jam

• 1 cup strawberries
  • I used frozen, but you can use fresh ones too. You can also substitute in other fruits here as well.
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)

Ingredients for whipped cream

• 3/4 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. First, let’s make the roll cake. In a large bowl, add egg yolks and whisk until evenly mixed. Add half of the sugar and whisk until the mixture has approximately doubled in volume. I hand-whisked for approximately 7 minutes. The mixture should be a lighter yellow color and be at a ribbon stage (when you lift the whisk up, the mixture should fall back into the bowl in ribbons that will hold its shape until disappearing back into the mixture).
3. In bowl of a stand mixer, add cold egg whites and beat on low speed until foamy (approximately 2 minutes).
4. Add the other half of the sugar over 2 separate times and beat on medium high speed until the egg whites reach stiff peaks (approximately 7 minutes). Make sure to keep checking the egg whites to not overbeat them.
5. Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Gently hand whisk until evenly combined.
6. Add the egg yolk and egg white mixture back into the egg whites. Using a silicon spatula, gently fold in the egg whites until evenly combined.
7. Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and matcha powder. I sifted these dry ingredients together first, but you can omit this step if you’d like. Using a silicon spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients until evenly combined.
8. Add lukewarm milk and vanilla extract. This is also when you’ll add in your liquid extract if you’re using it. Using a silicon spatula, gently fold until evenly combined.
9. Pour the batter onto a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper. Using the silicon spatula spread the batter evenly across the pan.
10. Tap the jelly roll pan on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles. You should see them coming up to the surface and popping.
11. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched. Make sure to not overbake the cake or else it will be difficult to roll.
12. While the cake is still hot, add a piece of parchment paper on top and flip the cake over and remove the jelly roll pan. Gently remove the parchment paper (on the side attached to the cake). Your cake is now upside down.
13. Place another piece of parchment paper on top, and then a flat hard surface, like the baking sheet (facing up) on top. Using that hard surface to help you, flip the cake over again. Remove the baking sheet and parchment paper. Basically, your cake should be right side up again.
14. On one of the the shorter sides of the cake, slice off 1/4 inch at a diagonal, which will help you roll the cake later.
15. While the cake is still warm, starting from the shorter side that you did not slice off, slowly roll the cake and parchment paper together into a roll. Let it cool for 30 minutes or until it comes to room temperature. This step is to make it easier to roll when it’s cool.
16. Now, let’s prepare the strawberry jam! In a small saucepan, add strawberries and sugar. Cook on medium heat and stir until the mixture thickens and the strawberries are pulpy (approximately 15 minutes). Let the jam cool until room temperature.
17. In the meantime, let’s prepare the whipped cream! In the bowl of a stand mixer, add heavy cream and sugar. Mix on medium high speed until it reaches medium-stiff peaks.
18. Add the strawberry jam to whipped cream and evenly combine with a silicon spatula.
19. Now, let’s assemble the cake! Unroll the roll cake and parchment paper. You can see that the cake might want to go back into a roll shape, which is good.
20. Spread the strawberry whipped cream onto the cake, starting from the shorter side that you did not cut off diagonally. Stop when you’ve reached 3/4 of the cake. For the remaining 1/4 of the cake, spread a just a thin layer of whipped cream. Basically, the 1/4 of the cake that is closest to the side that you cut off should have less whipped cream (to accommodate the whipped cream that will build up from rolling the cake).
21. From the shorter side that you did not slice off, re-roll the cake tightly with the side that you sliced off ending up as a seam on the bottom.
22. Wrap the cake in parchment paper and make sure you twist the ends so the sides of your roll cake it not exposed. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to ensure that the cream is firm.
23. Now, unroll the cake, slice off the ends to see the swirls, and you’re done!

Matcha Roll Cake with Strawberry Cream is a fun take on those classic vanilla roll cakes in Chinese bakeries that I love. The cake part is fluffy and spongey and the strawberry cream adds a tartness to the cake that is delicious. My favorite part of making this cake is cutting through it at the end, unveiling the beautiful swirls that almost a surprise. While I love the strawberry matcha combo, this cake is super versatile, so you can try out different flavor and color combinations to create these beautiful swirls. Try it out with your favorite flavor combo and let me know how it goes!